Dear Players, Parents, Members and Friends,

We hope you have noticed some of the work we have undergone during the summer break, including the much-needed extension to the car park. We will also start work on the erection of two new dressing rooms, designed specifically for the youth teams.

We also hope that you have noticed the excellent condition of both pitches and the training area. When we redeveloped the second pitch back in 2019, the aim was to provide rugby all year round and not have to cancel any matches because of the condition of the pitch. We have held true to this pledge, and we hope to continue to doing so by investing in the upgrading and maintenance of the grounds.

The next part of the club development plan is to install match-grade floodlights for the new pitch, which would enable us to host evening matches and would extend our training area as we head into the winter. It would also enable us to hire out the pitch, bringing revenue into the club

We are also planning to extend our clubhouse by building an outdoor social area with a verandah and tables and chairs. Our excellent and hard-working social committee are keen to build on the successful events that we ran last year and with the restrictions on gatherings now lifted, we are keen to boost the club’s social events, including a Halloween party, campouts, sports days and barbecue.

This is all extensive work and none of it would have happened without your invaluable support, be that through membership, volunteering on and off the pitch, or contributing to our fundraisers. In all we have budgeted €162,000 for the lights and the clubhouse extension. We will be applying for another tranche of sports capital funding and hope to be successful.

In the next few days, we will be launching the Your Club Your Country (YCYC) draw – a nationwide initiative run by the IRFU with some fantastic prizes, including the opportunity to follow the Ireland rugby team around France during next year’s World Cup, trips to Six Nations games and a cheque for €5,000.

We are asking you to help sell these tickets to friends, family members and associates. Each ticket is €10 and all of the proceeds go directly to North Meath.

We have deliberately avoided large-scale annual fundraisers as we appreciate the contribution that you all make through the various memberships on offer. We also do not ask for match fees or training fees or any other incremental payments during the year. That said, we would really appreciate your help and support in selling the YCYC tickets and hitting a €5,000 target which will prove invaluable for the daily running of the club while we aim to raise the funds for the club development.

These can be purchased

Online https://app.galabid.com/ycyc22northmeathrfc/items/351ceff7-1cf3-42ae-8c58-44e8a782a820?backPath=ycyc22northmeathrfc%2Fregister (please send link to as many people as you can)

OR

in Shops and local Businesses (which we will ask your support to do request shops to sell)

OR

via Direct Sales by Club members

              We ask you to take sign up cards if you are ok to do so, but if not please do not feel obliged to

              We would like 1 volunteer per team to act as the main contact to distribute and collect these cards which the club will convert to ticket purchases.

Thanks for your support

North Meath RFC Executive Committee